St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-29
How Railroads and Bridges
Are Built in the Land of |
the Elephant. 1 D.
President Gibson, of the Vel
lowstone Park, Wants an
Appropriation ~
To Improve the Condition Of
the Hotels and the Pub
lie Roads. TO-
FROM FAR-OFF INDIA.
An Engineer Who Has Gene to
the Northwest for Points on Rail-
way Building.

An Engineer Who Has Gene to
the Northwest for Points on Rail-
way Building.
District Engineer George Anderson,
of Malabar, India, is in st. Paul, after
having visited Duluth for day or two.
He is i'll this country for pointers which
will be used in his business in India.
"My principal object in visiting the
United States" he said, sis for the
purpose of inspecting the bridges and
railroads of this wonderful country.
Within the past fourteen years there
have been built in India, and principally
in the southern part. between 12,000 and
$1,000 miles of railroad, our principal
drawback being the absence of skilled
labOrers on such work, and who are so
numerous in this country. Our best
days work in track laying was two and
three-quarterS miles by unSkilled coolies,
but the average is about one and half
miles day when the hands keep at
work"
at is very different in India as regards
the construction of railroads from what
it is in the United States, where so much
private capital is invested in enter
priSes of this character. Most of the
India roads are built under government
guarantees, and they are principally
military railways for the transportation
of troops and supplies to different parts
of the territory. The climate of India,
too, is the greatest obstacle that is en-
countered by Europeans, and in the
malariOuS regions it is almost impOssi-
BILE for a white man to become acclima-
ted. Take the part of the country
where have been working for several
e.. IN lNa
mercury is about 800, by noon it has
gone up to 1902 and by 10 O'Clock in
the evening it is freezing cold. No one
except cOolie can stand such changes.
and many of them Succumb yearly
When engaged in labor that takes them
away from the coast and into the jingle.
Then. too, they are careless and indif-
erent about their work and need cOntin-
ual squirting. if anything is to beac-
complished. and this is especially true
when it as
COMES TO BRIDGE BUILDING
"All the material has to be conveyed
long distances by bullockS. which makes
the operation costly, not to speak Of the
slewness of these plodding animals I'm
skilled laborers work seven days in the
week of ten hours each for four annas,.
about siXpence, and a skilled l&borer
=
quarter of dollar, to one rupee aGday.
For several years past L have devoted
the greater portion of my time to the
work of bridge building, using theiirOn
truss pattern so familiar in all parts of
America, placed upon substantial piers.
| must say. however. that these piers
when completed, although constructed
by the natives, are models of symmetry
and substantially and will compare
favOrably with those in other parts of
the world that | have seen. After the
piers are built the roaelbeds and either
parts of the structures are put together
in the beds of the streams they are to
span. and we then hoist them into posi-
ton by means of jacks, which lift them
half an inch at a time. The latest
bridge that have been interested in
was put up at Calicut. about seventy
miles from the coast, and elephants,
bullOcks and coolies were utilized in the
work. 1t is rather an interesting sight,
although tedious process, to see a big
tusk elephant harneSSed and attached
to an immense crane weighing fully
five tone, which he will drag up hill and
down to its destination. Going up hill
the elephant takes his time, but when
the descent is made it is hard to keep
up with him, for he evinceS an uncOn-
tfOiaDle desire 10 run AWAY WIFI HIS lOdu.
Forming the earthwork along a railroad
is likewise an interesting spectacle, the
hundreds of coolies, male and female,
from a distance. resembling swarm of
ants, as they patter to and fro deposit
ing baskets of earth which they pound
down with their feet until it becomes
almost rocklike in sOlidity.
But we have to be expeditions in this
Jungle work owing to the SuddenneSS
with which the rivers rise, for often
times | have seen place that was as
dry as one could imagine. converted
into the bed of roaring, rushing river
from what seemed to be Il light fall of
rain ovelh head. Northwestern India in
many respects resembles the climate of
the Northwest of the United States.
and it is in this portion of the province
that
THE WHEAT BELT LIES,
where in the past five years the produc- |
ton has equaled that of the whole of
America. 1t is likely that | shall be
several months in this part of the coun-
try and eventually settle here perma-
nently, for like the people and their
energetic, industrious manner of work
ing and developing the land lying adj
jacent to the railroads. | only wish we
had such people as J. J. Hill. Chauncey
Depew and others of their character to
develop the resources of India, but |
regret to say that very little American
capital is being invested in the land of
Rrahma -